Friday, 29 January 2016

The Baltic Countries Are a Hotbed of Multilingualism in Europe

The internet and its technologies are eroding many
languages, especially in the Baltic countries. What can be done about it?

The Baltic countries are a hotbed of multilingualism
in Europe. Bilingualism is the norm in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia;
trilingualism is increasingly the new standard. If you get lost in the old
cities of Riga, Vilnius or Tallinn, chances are pretty good you'll find
somebody to ask for directions who speaks your language.

In Latvia, where I live, 95% of the population is
bilingual and 54% speak at least three languages. This gives Latvia the
second-highest rate of bilingualism in all of Europe, and makes the country one
of only eight EU member states where the majority of citizens are trilingual – a
long-term EU objective, also reached by Lithuania and Estonia.

Though we are great proponents of multilingualism,
Baltic citizens hold their mother languages closest to their hearts. Language is bound to our identity as a people. It is the language of our
poetry, our folk hymns and our song festivals.

If you ask most Baltic professionals which language
they use at work, however, you will get a different story. More often than not,
multilingual Balts will say they start to use a larger proportion of English
words when explaining the technical aspects of their trade, mixing in English
terminology with their mother language. English is increasingly becoming the
language of the boardroom, the product presentation, and professional shop
talk, effectively tipping the linguistic scales.

The languages of the Baltics are not ill-equipped to
"talk shop" because of some inherent linguistic deficiencies. They
are among the richest languages in the world, with a grammar that comes
pre-equipped for flexibility and expressiveness. Estonian, for example, has 14
noun cases, while Latvian has a dizzying array of two-letter prefixes that
convey subtle changes in meaning to almost any noun or verb.

The domination of the internet by a handful of larger
languages means that they have become our default domains for talking about
technology, software, and business – the great muses of the modern day. As a
result, we're having a harder time discussing these subjects in our mother
tongue, which has been relegated to our private lives.

Recent studies have shown that the Baltics are not
alone; according to a recent report from Meta-Net, a network of research
centres investigating the effect of technology on language, as many as 21 European
languages are at risk of digital extinction. It looks like
the grim reaper will come armed with an iPhone instead of a scythe.

This threat of digital extinction for smaller
languages will become even more acute as the internet – and the larger
languages that it rode in on – extends into every aspect of our lives,
dictating how we speak and think. Smartphones, tablets, mobile apps and social
media all increase the reach of the digital universe, accompanying us from the
second we wake up (and check the news and our email) to the last moment before
we sleep (one final scroll through our Twitter feeds).

How can we reverse this trend for the European
languages at risk? The answer seems to lie not in more stringent language
policy – for politics has always proven to be ineffective at telling people
what or how to speak – but in the technological tools that support our
languages today.

In order to tend to the continued development of our
languages, we must continue to create technologies that provide smaller
languages with the same support enjoyed by larger ones. Desktop proofing tools,
multilingual apps and interfaces, online encyclopedias and other digital
resources – these are all essential tools that can bolster smaller languages in
the digital age.

New language technologies present an important way in
which we can enable smaller languages in the linguistically diverse digital
age, helping them be heard around the world. With these technologies, we can
ensure the survival of small languages such as Latvian, Lithuanian, and
Estonian – and the
many, many other global languages currently at risk of digital extinction – making sure they continue to thrive well into the multilingual
future.

About Baltic Media Translations

Offering
businesses a full range of Professional Translation Services in over 150
languages since 1994.

#Translation
company Baltic Media Ltd. is a leading provider of translation and localization
services in Northern Europe. We provide you access to over 150 languages for
the translation of your documents to enter global markets with high quality
localized products and services that meet the language and functionality
requirements of customers in any locale.

About us

Offering
businesses a full range of Professional Translation Services in over 150
languages since 1994.

#Translation
company Baltic Media Ltd. is a leading provider of translation and localization
services in Northern Europe. We provide you access to over 150 languages for
the translation of your documents to enter global markets with high quality
localized products and services that meet the language and functionality
requirements of customers in any locale.